Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

I have been racing pro fessiona l motocross for almost two years. I have never raced a street bike. I ha ve tooled around town on my brother's TZ350, but have never laid it down . I have never laid a streetbike down a t speed, but ha ve thrown away my sha re of rnotocrossers and from my experien ce of cra shing a liule 200pound ma chine a t sem i-reasona ble speed s in th e dirt it would seem that aft er getting off on on e of th e (street) babe s on e would not leap up and offer to help load it , besides how bad a broken colla rbone can hurt. Things are definitely ge tting o ut of hand when a motocrosser takes a stand for a road racer but enough is enough. I lik e his articles, his methods and his honesty even if he doesn 't write about motocross. RO N H EN DR YN J MX 11 150 Tu lsa, OK WEST America 's weekly motorcycle newspaper Sharon Clayton . Publish" Mi ke Klinger, Com ptr oller Skip John son . As sociate Pu blishrt ] N ationa l Sa lt-sMa" 42Mt'T Ca rol ine O endr v, E x ecu t i ve SC"t"tt'lary 'h i' PUb/i.fhtT 10 Ed itorial John U lr ich Editor Kil Palmer. Associat e Ed itor Rex Reese. Feature Edit or Advertising Te rtv Prall. Sail'S Mnnag,.r Mike Spencer. Salt's ManaK" T im Ryan. Sai l's Mallagn Linda Brown . A dl" rti sing Coordin ator Na ncy Wa su~lI . A dwrt;s;ng IEditor ial As sista nt G raphics and Production Lori T Y!Wln. Gra p hi c Ar tist Larrv G ill . G rap h ic A rtist Mar ion Ha ta sbua . T'Y~st'ltt', Shei la La rsen . T ypt'.t t'tll't Ikn ni s G reen e.l.JJb. T ech : Account ing /Data Processing Donna Bryan. A cco unts R l' ct'il lll.b lt' Coordinator GnlMo'a Repass. A ssistant Fran Ha m wey. Cred it Circulat ion R heba Smith. M anaKn Michell e H anna. A ssistan t Sa ra h Taylor . A s.s istant Lvna H ood . Ass ista nt Dealer Sales and Service Bob Eltlon , Dt'aln Sales Mn nal{t'r Want Ads J udy H ilgen berg, n 'anl Ad Sa les Service and Support Ch r is Ain'heso n . R rcrption ist Gregory Hanson. s~s West 2201 Che rrv Ave., Lon g Reach . CA 1 ).0. Rnx -198, Lon g Rea ch , CA 90801().I98 (2 13) ·127-7433: L. A. Line 636· 88-14. Ea st -1190 Firsl Ave.. T uc ker. G A. P.O. Box 805. Tucker. GA 30085-0805. (404) 934-7850. C ycle New . /W"" (U S PS 141·340 ) is p ublish ed week ly excep t th e Iirst a nd last week o f th e ca le nda r yea r fo r $25 pe r yea r by C ~' cle News. Inc.. 2201 Cherrv Avenue. LOOK Beach . C \ 90806. Seco nd clas s po srage pai d a t LoOK Beach . CA. POSTMASTER : Send form 3 57 9 to Cycle News. P.O. Box 49B. Long Beach. CA 90801 -0498. Su bscn p rio n ra tes: O n e yea r, seco n d class mai l. $25; IWO yea rs . seco nd class m ai l. $4 5; th ree yea rs. second class mai l $68; 25 wee ks. $ 13. For eign ra tes a vail a ble o n re-ques t. Cvc le Xews welcomes un so fici ted ed itor ia l ma teri al includ ing stories. ca rtoo ns, p ho to s. etc. Such ma terial. if pu blished. beco mes the exclusive properl y o f Cvc le N("~' ~ ' Su ch .aC"ct"p ll"d materi a l is su bject to fl'\'151On a s IS n ecessa ry in t he sole d iscre- lion o f Cycle New s. Unsolicited mat eri a l wh ich is not used will be retu rned if acco mpan ied b y a self ad dressed stamped en velope. All un so h ciu-d ma teri a l will be handl ed with reaso na ble ca rt', ho wever, Cycle News as su m e') no re~pon§ ibl1 i( y Ior the saferv. fo ss o r d a mage to such mat er ial. R: p r}nt in g in w ho,le.- ~r p an o n ly bv permusro n o f the p ubl isher. Ad ver u stn g rat es a nd circ u la tio n in formati on will be '>("111 upon H'Cl U(' M . S("{' S.R.D.S. Cop yright !Xl Cycle New. , Inc " 1985. Trad e ma rk. Cycl e News reg istered ·U,S . Pa te nt Office . All rights re served . 4 ON THE FRONT PAGE : J eff Ward sails t o his f irst Golden Slate w in of th e series. Photo by Kit Palme r. Chris Cranda ll t opped t he Wo rld Champion sh ip Hare & Houn d in Las Vegas . Phot o by Larry Langley . Superbike masters I am writing in response 10 your excellent story on Steve McLaughlin in your issue of November 21 which has just reached me. I hope th at the following observations might lend a more international perspe ctiv e 10 th e debate over the proposed International Superbike Masters Series. Firstly, I full y sup po rt th e developrnent of an international Superbike formula a nd applaud th e FIM for forming a group 10 exa m ine th e options. As long as it is recognized in th at study tha t four-stroke racing is considerably more expensive overall than two-stroke, I am sure th e end result will benefit the spo rt and the industry. I woul d li ke to congra tula te Steve Mcl.aughlin for his professional approach to promoting his cor pora . rion's interests. There is little doubt that the series o bjectives a re well intentioned and yet som e questions sho uld be asked. Although th e seri es was referred 10 , Daytona seems to dominat e the stage, a nd to the forei gn o bserver Da ytona and AMA road racin g seem a bo ut as remote from World Ch ampionship road racingas th e Isle of Man 'IT does, or as NASCAR is from th e Formula One World Champion ship. Let's not forg et that the ACU 's slavish dedication to preserving th e sta tus of the 'IT festival is mainly responsibl e for int ernat ion al Superbike rul es being wh ere they are toda y - confused and inappropriat e. To most foreigners Ameri can road racing is th e Daytona festival, wh ere the racing plays second fiddl e 10 th e " event" just as it does in the Isle of Man. McLaughlin said it: "no matter wh at the bikes are, th e 1985 Daytona 200 will go down in the record books as the 44th running of Am erica 's a nd th e world's most fam ous motorcycle road race" (read festival ). Wh y sho uld McLaughlin need to direct (mo torcycle ) Formula One eng uiri es to Kenny Roberts? Althou gh Kenn y is doing hi s best 10 p ro mo te the sport that he. mo re th an any o ther Ame rica n, has pu t on th e wo rld map. sure ly the AMA shou ld be a nswering the questi on s. No foreigner ca n understand why Kenn y Roberts., Eddi e . Lawson, Freddie Spencer and Randy Mamola receive no public recognition in the States when they can't walk the streets in Italy or France without it. Any sport, 10 be successful, needs stars. Am erica has more road race stars than any other country in the world, so why not run a Grand P rix or two so the great American public can see 'em stick it to those furriners? Didn't I read Laguna Seca drew 80,000 specta tors? There is no question that an international ch ampionship of ma kes based on the silhouette pri nci ple would be welcomed by ma nufacturers, promoters, and spe cta tors . Bu t don 't bury those World Champions even deeper in order to lead the way . _ America seems embarrassed when it wi ns games that the rest of the world pl ays, and yet it has th e capacity as a nat ion 10 do more 10 elevate further the status of the onl y tru e motorcycle World_Championship (Gra nd Prix roa d racing) than a ny other. So, if for no ot her reason than out of respect for Kenny Ro berts a nd th ose other grea t American road racing World Ch ampions. wh y not go for it? PAUL BUTLER Manager T eam Kenny Rober ts Member, Technical Advisory Council of Industry FIM Uithoorn, Holland MXer I have been a read er of Cycle News since I started riding five years ago a nd lat ely it seems a lot of other readers have taken a liking 10 raking John Ulrich , his column (Risk), predictions (Kevin Schwamz) and speed , over the fire. . ~ aybe I have been missing som eth in g but a ll o f Mr. Ulrich's co lumns I have read and never have I found hi s a rticles t~ be di stasteful , exaggera tive or offensive. An ybod y wh o criticizes a n editor for laying down a racebik e o n a race~rack is definitely way out of tou ch with th e real world: sticking a ro und to help load th e thing is someth ing abs olutely absurd. A racer As many times as I have differed wit h J ohn Ulrich's views, I never though t I would find myself wr iting to comment o n one of his co lum ns. However, his R isk col um n in Cycle News, January 9 deserves co ngratu la tions on an observation well made. There are too few peo ple who know what they are ta lking a bout, and too many people tal king. I spent five years watc hi ng road races befo re I ever rode on a paved trade I thought a bout how indifferent it loo ked fro m going fast o n the back roads. I figured I could do that. Now I can say that until you've been out there, you can't come close 10 describing the knowledge gained in road raci ng. I'm certainly not the fastest guy out there, but at least I'm out there. It's give n me a 10lOf respect for racers, and less fo r those who have never been on a track, but talk like they live there . If you've been racing and you're hooked like many of us, you can lis ten for ho urs to the stories and excitement, even if you're no better racer than I am . But if you haven 't even been o n the track, save me th e criticism for how or what I did out there. Also , than ks for the excellent a rticle o n Kevin Schwantz. P AT WILLI AMS Victo ria , TX Crashing I hav e to agree with John Ulrich (Cy cle News, J anuary 9) when it comes 10 crashing. Accepting a street rid er's views o n crashing would not be obj ective. What reall y gets me is how riders of less sta ture will leap at a chance to build th eir self-esteem on an experienced racer's mistakes. In order for me 10 do such a thing I wou ld have to totally discount all of John's accom plishments throughout his years of racing. Then I wou ld have 10 deny th at I have ever learned an ythi ng of value from him. Most importantly, I wou ld hav e to deny that I myself had ever made an y mistakes or learned a hard lesson . Of course, that wou ld make me a hypocrite in th e purest sense of th e word . If you get a cha nce so me tim e, ask Gr eg Wing, P R RO 1132. a bo u t the tim e he went over th e handl eba rs of h is KZIO O Oil race-quality tires no O. less. Keep up th e good work, John . GORDON LE DERE R Form er PRRO 1112 Tucson, AZ (Continued to page 23)

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